Gripping tool



'June9,1953 CVPETERSEN 2,641,149

GRIPPING TOOL Filed June 27, 1951 IN V EN TOR.

Patented June 9, 1953 christian Petersen, De Witt,- Nclirz, assignor to PetersenMf 00:, Inc'., De Witt; Nebifl, acor partition of Nebraska AppIicationJune 27, 1951; s'eriarNo; 233,739

l Claini. r V invention-relates generauy'to the classor too1sand is directed particularly" toan' improved selfl'ockihg tool of th'eplie'r'type.

A principal objector the presentinventionis to provide an improvedlh'and tool which is designed to erform the functions of a c clam'p withouthavin'g the 'di'sadvantagesof such clamp in're'q'uiring the use of'two' handsfor its application and removal fromapiece of work; Ihijobs: requiring the'use of 'a'clamp ora' humb'ero'f clamps" of the Ctyp'ewhere' two or more ieces of work are to" be secured together for the performance of some action in connection therewith such asw'elding; drilling or the like it is necessary"toholdtheclamp in position with one hand while. tightenin 'the screw with the other'hand; Thisr'equirein'ent for the use of both hands also'appliesin removing'the clamp and accordingly if" it is necessary to'maintain two pieces of" material against relative movement while the clamp is b'eingreleased' and shifted the job becomes particularly difficult' for one workman because'of' thisfact since the single workman must use both of his hands to disengage-and resetthe clamp;

In the" light of" the foregoing-it isa' particular objector the presentinvention'to provide a novel tool" having; clamping jaws corresponding to the clamping jaws of'a C clamp" and having a general form" like a c-cnm with means for a operiingf'and closingthe' clamp-and effecting the locking'of thesame' whenin closedposition' by thetuse or one hand-only.

A further arid more specific object of the invention iStO providea T1001" Of'thB above stated type" whe'reinthe" jaws comprise two substantially c shapedmembers with oneleg of each memher being connected with an actuatinghandle and suolr-handles being pivotallyhoupled together to provide a Dlier tyne construction, the ends of the-other legs of thetwo jaw members being brought together in gripping relation upon the work, and means being provided'in association withrth'eihandles for effectingthe automatic lockingito'geth'erof the jaws whenithe same have b'e'en forced together on the work.

Other objects and advantages of theiinvention will become apparent as the: description of the same proceeds and the inventionwill beib'e'st'und'erstoomf'rom alconsideration of thafollowing i detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described 2 since obvious modifications win occur toaperson skilled in the art.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of atool construotedin accordance with the present invention with portions broke'nawa'y';

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of'Figure'l;

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate-two applications-of the tool.

Referring nowmore'particularly to the drawing it will he seen upon reference toFigur'e 1 that the tool of the present invention comprises the two jaw members or units lil and- 12, each of which is substantially inthefbrm' of aletterC.

The unit 10 comprises the'long back bar l4 and the forward and rear legs" ls and l8 respectively which are integral, substantiallyright angular continuations of the back bar-14 The jaw unit or member l2; which may be defined as the fixed jaw, is also of substantially the same form or shape'as the'jaw member [0 in that it comprises the back bar ZG'andthe-forward and rear legs 22' and E i-respectively.

The rear leg Ztof the fixedjaw I2 is rigidly joined to the forward end of'a handle 2'5which isof channel form andacc'or'dingly' includes the spac'etiside flanges 26. At the" forward end of thehandle 25; the free end of therear leg 3 of the jaw member H1 is positioned between the flanges 2t and'pivotally coupled tothe same as indicated at 21, whereby the jaw member I0 is oscillatable' or swingable in the plane of" the fixed jaw IZ'a'nd the jaws are set so that the freeends of the forward legs Sand 22' may be brought into opposed abuttin 'relation. The ends of these legsare'widened slightly to form the grippinglips l'oct'and 22w as shown; Between these lips the work'to be held is positioned.

At the b'ackedge of the rear le'gflB' of the" jaw member ltthere is pivotally attached asatZB, an end of a hand lever 2d.

Rearwardly of the pivot 28 the. hand lever, which is also of channel cross. section,,hasi securedbetween the. side flanges 3 thereof, a pivot pint]. This pivotpin-lies in saline extending longitudinally of the tool, passing'betweenthe pivotsZ'l and. 28 and the. pivot 3|" is rearwardly of the other two pivots so thatthe threepivots form a triangular arrangement as shown,

Interposed between the handle 25 and lever 29 which constitutes a second handle which is movable relative to the handle 25, is a toggle link 32 which has one end positioned between the flanges 30 of the lever 29 and pivoted on the pivot 3| 3 while the opposite end of the toggle link extends rearwardly and into the channel of the handle 25 and is formed with a rearwardly directed shoulder 33.

The back end of the channel forming the handle 25 is closed and provided with a threaded passage 34 through which is threadably extended the adjustment screw 35, the forward end of which, designated 36, bears against the shoulder 33 of the toggle link. The rear end of the screw 35 carries a knurled head 31 which is rearwardly of the handle as shown so that the screw may be conveniently turned to force the toggle link '32 forwardly thereby applying thrust to the pivot 28 and causing the jaw arms l6 and 22 to be moved together. Reverse movement of the screw 35 permits the opening of the jaws and the opening action is facilitated by a spring 38 which has one end attached as at 39 to the back edge of the leg I8 between the pivot 28 and the pivot 21, while the other end of the spring extends down into the channel of the handle 25 and is secured thereto by means of the hook 40 or in any other suitable manner.

The toggle link coupling the handles 25 and 29 is such, as will be readily apparent, that when the jaw lips |6a and 22a are properly set to lightly grip a piece of work between them, the application of pressure to the handle lever 29 to force its free rear end toward the handle 25, will cause the pivot center 3| to move inwardly toward the handle 25 slightly beyond a line extending between the pivot 28 and the point of contact of the screw end 36 against the shoulder 33. In this manner the jaws will be held locked in gripping relation on a piece of work interposed between them.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate two applications of the present tool to work where two pieces are to be held together.

In Figure 3 there is shown a bar 4| on which is placed a piece of angle iron 42 which receives a corner of the bar in the angle so that one flange of the angle lies against one face of the bar and the other flange of the angle lies against the adjacent right angular positioned face of the bar.

The jaws l and I2 are opened to the proper position to just receive between them the bar 4| and one flange of the angle iron 42 as shown. By then applying pressure to the lever 29 in the manner previously stated the handles 25 and 29 will be forced into locked position so that the two elements 4| and 42 will be firmly locked together. The necessary work may then be performed upon the element such as welding the two together or drilling or any other operation and if it should become necessary to then shift the gripping tool, particularly where the members 4| and 42 are not secured together against relative movement, the two pieces of work can be held in one hand while the tool is opened and shifted and then closed again in another position without danger of having the two pieces of work shift one with relation to the other. In a similar operation using standard C-clamps it will be readily seen that while the clamp might be released with one hand, the use of two hands would be required to hold the clamp body in its new position while the screw is being tightened and thus the possibility of shifting of the parts is increased.

In Figure 4 an illustration is given of the manner in which the jaws of the tool can be made to straddle two wide pieces of work in order to secure together more closely related parts. As here shown two pieces of angle iron 43 are placed side by side with two flanges of the pieces extending in opposite directions while the other two flanges lie back to back. In an operation where it might not be possible to apply clamps to the juxtaposed flanges at the edges remote from the two edge to edge related flanges, the present tool can straddle the edge to edge flanges as illustrated in order to bring the lips |6a and 22a of the jaws into clamping relation against the juxtaposed flanges and after the jaws have been so placed the tool can be firmly locked to hold the pieces of work together merely by forcing the handles 25 and 29 together in the manner previously described.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that a tool constructed in accordance with the present invention has many advantages over ordinary types of clamps such as case and quickness of application of the tool to the work and in addition, after the jaws have once been set to grip two articles, they can be opened and closed many times for shifting or replacement on other articles of the same size without having to change the adjustment of the jaws whereas with screw clamps the jaws must be separated and readjusted for tightness each time the clamp is removed from a piece of work and replaced.

1' claim:

A gripping tool of the character set forth comprising two substantially c-shaped jaws disposed in a common plane with their open sides opposed, each jaw having a back bar and forward and rear legs extending from the ends of the back bar, a handle having one end rigidly fixed to the rear leg of one jaw, a pivot coupling between the end of the rear leg of the outer jaw and the said end of said handle, a handle lever, a pivot coupling between one end of said lever and the rear leg of said other jaw at a location a substantial distance outwardly from the pivot coupling between the end of the said leg of said other jaw and the said end of the fixed handle, the free ends of the forward legs of the jaws being positioned to be brought into opposing contacting relation, and a toggle link coupling between the handle and the handle, lever for locking the jaws against separation when the handle and handle lever are forced together, said C-shaped jaws-being of flat form and each of said forward legs at its free end being enlarged laterally from each side of the leg to provide transversely extending gripping lips of substantial length, each of said gripping lips being tapered toward a rounded work engaging edge.

CHRISTIAN PETERSEN. I

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,299,454 Borchers Oct. 20, 1942 2,327,368 Olson Aug. 24, 1943 2,328,433 Dyer Aug. 31, 1943 2,385,654 Seashore Sept. 25, 1945 2,501,238 Sarsgard et al Mar. 21, 1950 2,502,804 Spencer Apr. 4, 1950 

